Tonsorial appliance



March 25 1924. 1,488,444

J. P. SHEA TONS ORI AL APPLIANCE Filed Feb. 17. 1921 Patented Mar. 25, 1924.

UNITED STATES JOHN P. SHEA, 013 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

TONSORIAL APPLIANCE.

Application filed February 17, 1921. Serial No. 445,746.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN P. SHEA, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in TonsOrial Appliances, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a sanitary tonsorial appliance, an object of which is to supersede the unsanitary hair cloth or barbers mantle at present in use.

A further object of the invention is to .produce an appliance of this character that is so trifling in cost as to permit the use of a new or fresh one for each hair cutting operation.

Another object of the invention is to produce an appliance that is not only sanitary, but catches the falling hair as it is cut, preventing it from falling on the clothing of the customer and the floor of the shop.

The hair cloth commonly used is a dust and hair collecting appliance that is extremely unsanitary, as, in its use, the neck portion in most instances comes in direct contact with the neck of the customer and necessarily absorbs more Or less moisture therefrom, and collects cuticle scale and disease germs exuded from sores and abrasions. As these cloths are seldom if ever cleaned or sterilized after each hair cutting operation but are transferred from one customer to another, it will be readily seen how easy it is to convey disease.

The primary object of the present invention is to eliminate this unsanitary feature and to also produce an appliance that will collect the hair as it falls so that after the cutting operation the appliance may be removed from the customer, rolled up to ensure the retention of the cut hair, and burned.

It is also an object of this invention to produce an appliance that is light in weight and not uncomfortable for the wearer, especially in warm Weather and climates.

To the attainment of the above objects the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will be fully understood from a description of the drawings and the claim hereinafter given.

Of the drawings:

Figure 1 shows the invention as ready for use.

Figure 2 is a developed view of the appliance centrally broken away for economy in space.

Figure 3 is a view of Figur 2 looking toward the left.

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail showing a portion of the lower edge of the appliance.

Figure 5 is a section on the line 5--5 Figure 4, showing the reinforced lower edge of the appliance and its position when in use.

Referring to the drawings:

A sheet or mantle 10 of light Weight material, such as tissue paper, is provided at the upper edge 11 thereof with a hem 12 of such width as to provide a tube-like receptacle 13 in which the gathering strings 15 and 16 are located. The hem 12 is made by turning back a portion of the material upon itself and pasting or otherwise aflixing the turned back portion to the body applied of the material in such manner as to form the tube 13. The strings 15 and 16 have their respective ends 17 and 18 suitably secured to an inner wall of the tube and it will be readily seen that upon pulling the strings 15 and 16 the ends 17 and 18 thereof will travel toward each'other, puckering the material between them. At its lower ed e the sheet 10 is or may be provided wit a strip of heavier material such as inexpensive wrapping paper, thin card board, or the like, or as shown the sheet 10 may be folded over on itself the required width and secured to itself as at 20 by a paste or sizing adapted to stifien the turned over portion.

It is desirable to so form the sheet 10 that the ends 25 and 26 will overlap when positioned for use and that an inexpensive and easily manipulated fastening means he provided to hold the ends in said overlapped position. For this purpose a tab or tongue 28 may be formed in the strip or turned over ortion 20 which is adapted to enter the siit 29, and it is obvious that one or more similar tabs and slits may be emplo ed as at and 31 to aid said tab 28.-

"l he nature of the material of which the mantle is composed, is such, that it is not essential that the tab 28 shall engage the slot 29 when the strip is turned up to form a trench as it will stay so placed when the mantle is adjusted to a person or use. When however, the tab 28 is engaged with the slot 29 the strip may be turned up as before, but the mouth of the trench thus formed, will not be quite so wide, but by manipulation of the strip and the material of the mantle the trench may be formed to function as before.

To use the appliance the sheet is positioned about the shoulders of the customer and the strings 15 and 16 pulled to gather the material closely about the neck, and fastened; the tabs 28 and '30 will be inserted in their respective slits as above described and thereafter the strip 20 will be turned up to form'a. trench-like receptacle 32 to receive the cut hair,

If desired'the material of sheet 10 may be made of a fairly close mesh cheese cloth with a fine fibre-like nap well adapted to catch and retain any individual hairs or short cuttings that are not sufficiently weighty to fall to the trench provided by I the upturned strip 20.

It will be understood that changes in material and structure may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the than the width of said mantle, the said tube being so located as to enable the side edges of the mantle to overlap at certain times; draw strings in said tube. one end of each of which is attached to said mantle adjacent an end of said tube, in such man ner as to cause the top edge of the mantle to be gathered snugly about the neck of the wearer at that point and to cause said side edges to overlap when said strings are pulled; and means to secure said side edges in overlapped position.

Signed by me at Boston, Mass. this 16th day of February, 1921.

JOHN P. SHEA. 

